The way for a young man to rise is to improve himself in every way he can, never suspecting that anybody wishes to hinder him. ~Abraham Lincoln
baby baby
Our family got some good news yesterday. My son and daughter-in-law are going to have a healthy baby girl in July. We are counting our blessings today and I look forward to welcoming a new bookbabie into the family!
skywatch friday
Last week a posted a photo from a past January trip to Cancun, this week a photo of why I wish I was in Cancun again right now. As lovely as winter can be here in Michigan, it was -9 when I got up today and when it’s that cold you just don’t want to leave the house. I did step out to take my SkyWatch photo though, now I think I’m going to go drink a pot of hot coffee and defrost my toes by the fire!
Winter is the time for comfort, for good food and warmth, for the touch of a friendly hand and for a talk beside the fire: it is the time for home. ~Edith Sitwell
one more hug
A few nights ago I was dreaming that I was in strange apartment at some kind of family get-together. There were small round tables set up and I was scanning the people at the tables, looking for my mom. I walked over and peered around a half wall and saw her. She appeared how I remember her at the end of her life when she was very ill and I didn’t want to see her that way so I went back and sat down at another table. When I looked up she was sitting across from me, healthy and young, younger than I have conscious memory of her. She tried to say something but I couldn’t understand her so we got up and moved toward each other and we embraced.
I was going to tell her that I wanted her to give me a sign or come to me in my dreams so that I would know that she was okay. But as I wrapped my arms around her and felt the softness of her short curly hair against my left cheek, I suddenly understood what seemed to be happening so instead I simply said, “I just wanted to tell you that you were a great mom.” I woke up with my lips moving and I heard my own whispered voice speaking out loud, “…a great mom.”
kitties and doggies and chicks! oh my!
skywatch friday
They’ll be no vacations this year to escape the cold and snow (8 more inches this weekend!) but here’s a pic for Skywatch from a past foray to the land of sun and sand. Of course, I’m actually in the sky looking down on the clouds instead of up, hope it still counts. That’s a bird’s eye view of Cancun Mexico, ahhh:)
The air up there in the clouds is very pure and fine, bracing and delicious. And why shouldn’t it be? – it is the same the angels breathe. ~Mark Twain
cool plug-in
I read about the plug-in Cooliris this weekend in the New York Times and decided to try it out. Cooliris is a new way to browse the web using images that scroll on a 3D Wall as you click and move your mouse around. I did the screen capture above after searching for “bookbabie”. I had no problems downloading and running the program for my browser, Firefox, and the best thing is it’s free! They sneak in ads on the wall here and there to pay for the technology but it’s no biggie because unless you click on them they don’t run. Click on the photo or the text link and experience a fun and futuristic way to explore the web!
Progress lies not in enhancing what is, but in advancing toward what will be. ~Kahlil Gibran
skywatch friday
Winter Sky
It finally feels like the holidays are over today and a new year has begun. Over the past couple of weeks, as 2008 wound down, I started to feel that big bad cloud of sadness and regret gathering over my shoulders and at first I let it, I figured I deserved it, didn’t I? A little wallowing, a few what-ifs? I mean, this has been one helluva year of stress and loss and heartache around here. But after a few days of it (and a few sleepless nights too) I realized that I was going to have to make a conscious effort to choose between sorrow and happiness, between gloom and optimism. And I knew that there might even be days when I would have to fake it to make it, but that’s okay, I can do that. Because I’ll be damned if I’m going to feel sad and only remember the bad days every time I look at a photograph of my mom, and I’ll be damned if I’m going to believe anything other than the fact that come July 1st I will be holding a healthy little grandbaby up to my face and breathing in the sweetness of a new life, a new beginning.
bookbabie 